HCM Holiday Day 1 - 29 Sep 2008

At the Budget Terminal after checking in... i bo liao.

Elios Hotel - we got the highest floor - 11 floor. Pathetic small window

A View of Ho Chi Minh City

Outside Ben Thanh Market

Brrrriiinnngggg (the alarm clock sounded)...yawn! Its 0430hrs on 29 Sep 2008. Dragged myself to the bathroom for a bath....Yeowwww! Its cold. Stupid me. I forgot to switch on the water heater. Well, the cold shower DID woke me up. haha... trying hard nt to scream as its early in the morning.

Refreshed! Wide awake! Packed some last min essentials into the luggage. Woke hb up. Did some memory counting...did i missed out anything? Passports? Checked! Air Tickets? Checked! Hotel Vouchers? Checked! Money? Checked! Clothings? Checked! Toiletries? Checked! Personal undergarments & stuff? Checked!

Shut the windows, checked all electrical appliances shut except for the fridge & fish tank. Make sure the cat is fed.

Reached airport at abt 0545hrs. Goodness! Long queue. Saw the queue for TR 326 to Ho Chi Minh & assume dat the q next to it is also for HCM, though there were no indications. Finally, its our turn.

" Can i have 2 window seats?"
" i'm sorry miss, the flights fully booked!"

" oh... er...tks "

" you shd hv pre booked ur seats thru the online booking.." (ya, as if i didnt know that)

" miss, u are gg to ho chi minh?"

" yes.."

" but this is the check in counter for Bangkok..."

" wat ?!?!? "

" the q for ho chi minh is at this counter .."(pointing to the next counter)

See la ...act smart! No indication. Assumed somemore la... Went to join the even longer q. Haiz! The clock's ticking.....finally they woke up their ideas to open another counter. Hopped over hurriedly...haha....we are now nearer to the counter.

" Can i have 2 window seats? " (hoping & praying its still available)

" Sure mam "

" Thank you " ( like a kid who gt her lollipop)

We are off...........

Arrival into Ho Chi Minh City - Tan Sonh Nat International Airport (did i get the correct spelling?). We booked for a cab at the taxi limousine counter, costing abt USD 8 to Elios Hotel. The internet reviews say its only 10 mins from the airport to the city. Nay....to me, its abt 0.5 hrs at least becos of the jam.

At long last, we arrived at Elios Hotel. Hmmm...nt bad. We gt a welcome drink, immediate check in & all mine request(s) met - high floor & double bed. We did a racky ard the hotel, went to Sinh Cafe to book tours and gt stuck. Now, where to go?

We heard of Ben Thanh Market. So following the directions given to me by an idiotic ex colleague of mine (the imperfect p), we went ahead.

hb: u sure we are walking the correct way?"

me: tink so

hb: where gt wat market? or is this the one? ( pointing to a wet market)

me: no la. Ben Thanh market is very big one leh.

hb: hw abt dat? (pointing to a building dat looks like the one drawn on the map)

me: let's go see

Walk....

me: tis one looks like a church leh

hb: so where is tis market then?

me: dunno (shaking my head)

hb: where else to go?

me: chinatown?

hb: where

me: must take a cab, too far to walk.

hb: hw far?

me: its in dist 5. we are in dist 1 (pointing out on the map)

hb: wa liao

We hailed a cab ( Vinasun - reputable taxi company which runs by meter). From then on, we always ony hail taxis under Vinasun. The name of the taxi can be seen on the top as well as the sides of the cab. Starting with 12,000D, we paid abt $80,000D upon reaching Chinatown. Err...no specific destination, raining somemore, we passed by a restaurant selling Hong Kong Roast Food. So we thot might as well go in for lunch & avoid the rain.

Big mistake! Taste horrible & we paid $300,000D. Waste $$. We asked the waitress to recommend shopping centers & she say we can go An Dong Market. So we took another cab, costing $16,400D. An Dong market is something like our lucky Plaza. But we bot nothing. Hb say take a cab go back Ben Thanh market. Another trip back. Realise Ben Thanh market is the same direction as Sinh Cafe if we walked from our hotel. Bloody P. Gave wrong directions. To hell with her! Couldnt find anything to buy. ( my cousin says alot of things to buy - bags, shoes, clothes...etc) Bo leh.

I ask hb if he wanna go casino. He was surprised; didnt know HCM is open to gambling. So we went to one casino at Caravelle Hotel. Only open to foreigners, locals are nt allowed in. Dat's when we finished all our USD; within mins. :(.

End up in a massage parlour. Too tired to walk already. I chose the aroma therapy & hv took up the full body massage. Mine cost USD13 & hb;s USD20 ~ 561,000D. Good service - Queen Beauty Salon 1st Floor 83 Nguyen Hue St, Dist 1, HCMC.

Its abt 5pm plus. Went to KFC for a light meal. Funny they do not have MacDonalds. After walking along the whole stretch of shops, we went into a shopping mall. Tis is where we bot Rachel's Vietnam National Costume. Haha... only 48,000D ~ SGD $4.80. Then we bot a giant jar of mineral water to last us for the the 4 days or so. Went back to a cafe cum pub restaurant for our dinner. Name of restaurant - Saigon. Food we ordered is nt nice. Maybe we are nt used to their style of cooking. Dragged tired body back to hotel room, bath & slept. We are doing our 1 day city tour the next day. YAWN!